Original Shalomer

One of our original ministers of Shalom, Rev. Joe Hyun-Seung Yang, was onsite during the civil unrest in the Spring of 1992, and is credited as starting the very first shalom zone in Los Angeles.

As founder of the Shalom Community Center (first in Koreatown, now in Pomona) providing services to the Los Angeles Korean Community — whose needs and hurts he believes were not sufficiently dealt with in the aftermath of the riots–Rev. Yang does has focused his ministerial career on community service and disaster relief. After twenty years, he still directs the Shalom Community Center as a not-for-profit organization, promoting peace in multiethnic communities.

In addition to his Shalom ministry, he has worked for 40 years with the American Red Cross in a variety of roles, including: board member and the vice-chair of the Los Angeles chapter, elected member of the National Diversity Council, caseworker, trainer, volunteer recruiter, youth mentor, public speaker and family counselor. According to Rev. Yang, “Every Sunday in the pulpit pastors are preaching ‘You be a light in the community!’ But we need action in the community. We know that sometimes that is difficult. But we must jump in…”See Joe Yang on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwtuKdWDov4

After 27 years of service to the United Methodist Church and 20 years of directing the Shalom Community Center, Rev. Yang officially retired last month from the Californa-Pacific Annual Conference. In his retirement speech, he praised the work of Communities of Shalom and invited his audience to attend the Summit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIfzCqeChCo&feature=youtu.be

In his preparation for co-leading a workshop at the International Shalom Summit in Los Angeles, Joe is working on an English edition of his book on Shalom ministry, called Respect Each Other for We are Connected, originally published in Korean.

Rev. Yang was the very first person to register for the Shalom Summit—back in January when online registration opened. Since then, over 50 other “shalomers” have registered for three-day event, and there’s still time and room for You! To get a 10% discount scholarship, seize the present moment and Register for Shalom Summit 2012 (Discount ends on July 31)

PS The Shalom Community Center, led by Rev. Yang, generously provided a grant for local scholarship assistance. For more information and to download a application, visit: Los Angeles United Methodist Urban Foundation: http://www.urbanfoundation.org

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!